


Code Feral

by ainamclane



Series: Little Black Dress RT Challenge [28]
Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, M/M, Sentinel/Guide Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 12:21:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8750668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ainamclane/pseuds/ainamclane
Summary: The attack on Malaya left Angus coming online. And the ER has many other obstacles to overcome.





	

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for up to Season 2 episode 8. 
> 
> Thank you for Karo (Red_Pink_Dots) for all the omega-reading and giving me great advice!

When looking back on what had happened, Angus wouldn’t be able to tell what exactly had taken place.

Malaya had fought hard, fought with all she had to fend off her attacker and Angus had stumbled in, heard her and felt her screaming and in panic. He had reacted right away before he even consciously thought about what had happened.

He had thrown the man away from Malaya, had tried fending him off, screamed at Malaya to run, to get help. He had fought and tried.

The knife that pierced skin and bones was a sickening sound. Angus couldn’t even tell right away that something was off. He barely knew how to fight. Suddenly, the man was down on the floor and Angus’ medical training kicked in.

“No, no, don’t pull that knife!” Angus yelled and suddenly, heard clearly what the man was saying next: “I’m gonna kill that bitch!”

Angus’ froze and watched as if in trance how he pulled the knife. There was nothing else he could do, just the instinct to protect Malaya. Keeping his hands clear. He heard the radio in the distance and called for help but knew by then the man had bled out. There was nothing he could do.

When the whole chaos had died down, Angus came to realize that he himself had suffered injuries. And quite a lot at that. He knew it was a weird disassociation that he had right now. He barely felt anything but the need to get clean and treat the injuries.

Mario was there suddenly, taking his shaking hands in his and whispering at him, trying to calm him down while everyone else was busy with Malaya or that crazy patient of her. Angus barely registered Mario’s hands on his and how he was cleaning him up, looking for cuts and bruises to treat before an infection would cause more harm than it already had. Just a small mercy that they all knew he didn’t have any diseases that could be transmitted.

Small mercies.

“Dr Leighton?” Leanne asked carefully and startled, Angus saw that he was alone in a room with her now: “Do you want me to call Mike?”

Angus barely nodded: “I don’t know what happened.”

Leanne frowned at him and sighed: “It’s best if I get Mike to take you home. You might feel upset right now, but it’s best if you’re not alone.”

“Where’s Mario?” Angus asked in surprise: “How’s Malaya?”

“Mario went home hours ago. I told him you all needed some rest. Malaya is still in shock but you saved her life and she has asked for you.” Leanne answered truthfully: “Neal and Christa are still around though.”

“Just a little break,” Angus replied and looked down at his clothes: “I can still feel him under my fingers.”

“Angus, you’ll be alright. The police will come in for some questions but otherwise, there is nothing you could have done differently,” Leanne reassured and the door opened to Mike.

“Angus?”

“Mike,” he replied with a small smile. Mike barely stepped into the room before staggering: “You’re online.”

Leanne and Angus were both looking at Mike in shock: “What?”

“Angus, you’re a Sentinel. A low level but then again, I’m a low leveled Guide. But you’re definitely online.”

“Are you sure?” Leanne asked and looked at Angus: “I’ll get a change in lawyer, update your paperwork and definitely give you a Sentinel friendly medicine.”

“I’m fine, Leanne, thanks.”

“I’ll send Mama in,” she said quickly before leaving the room. There was nothing else she could do now.

“Am I really a Sentinel?” Angus asked: “How? I’ve been tested.”

Mike settled down next to his brother and bumped his shoulder to his: “So was I. Dad never treated you right because you weren’t online. But he always knew I was a Guide.”

“You’ve been online since you were eight. Of course, he liked you. I was never good enough though.” Angus sighed: “Look, Mike, I killed that man. Back there I-“

“Shhh,” Mike said quickly: “You didn’t. You’re a Sentinel as of that moment. A Sentinel protects his family and tribe. A Sentinel is a judge when he must be. A Sentinel is kind and forgiving other times. He was at the wrong place when there was a very close friend of a Sentinel being attacked.”

“You make it sound as if I had no choice. He said he’d kill her,” Angus whispered.

Mike nodded: “You pulled the knife.”

“I did. I killed him. Oh god, Mike…” Angus said broke down, hands in front of his face.

“Again, you didn’t. There was nothing else you could do the moment he attacked you. While your medical training took over, a Sentinel is always for life. He will never just kill for fun. You killed because you saw Malaya being injured. You were attacked all the same and the words of that man were simply pushing you over the edge. It was a threat and you are not trained in combat, Angus. You had no other means to protect your family.”

Angus nodded but it was still hard for him to realize: “What happens next?”

“We’re going to the next center to get you signed in as online under stress. Even if the police come to investigate this matter further, as a Sentinel coming online in response to a direct threat, there was nothing else to do. You really have no means to deal with your senses and instincts in that moment,” Mike explained: “You’ll get a few courses on how to deal with your senses and therapy if you require it. Also, as a Guide myself, I can help you by staying close by to balance your senses.”

“Will I always require your help? We’re working in a high stress environment, Mike.”

“One step after the other, Angus. Take a breath,” Mike tried to keep him calm. 

It worked in a way. Angus was calming down quite a bit and frowned: “Can you hear that heartbeat?”

“Angus, think before you talk,” Mike jabbed at him as only a big brother could: “I’m a Guide.”

Angus rolled his eyes that said he knew better but hadn’t thought about it because c’mon he had just been attacked. Seriously, people could cut him some slack.

Hence, Mike dragged him out of the hospital and across the street to the next Sentinel and Guide Center. The habit of placing centers across the hospitals had come from some Sentinels being brought in for bad reactions to things, Guides that felt pain in form of a headache and overall the likeliness of the drama that was taking place in the hospital that triggered people online and a close distance to a sanctuary should a Sentinel or Guide need it.

The short walk was made in Angus’ still bloody clothes. Why no one had taken those from him for evidence was beyond the Leightons and they didn’t really care.

That Angus had to stay three days to get stabilized, assessed and basic training was just a case of bad luck.

It was that three days later, that Angus was included in the investigation of the attack and how it had come to this. To Malaya having a stalker and no one realizing it.

The questions that were asked, the answers that were given, Angus was right there in the middle of the chaos while all he wanted to do was crawl into someplace quiet and get a handle on his senses.

While he had them basically under wraps, every now and then a smell, a sound or a taste was drawing his attention and making him slow or simply sluggish to respond. 

Leanne was in the know, as was Mike but anyone else pretty much was a regular human and had no hint to know what Angus was without the bloodtest or being told.

Angus wanted it to stay that way. There were barely any Sentinels working in medical care as it was and those that were figured out to be Sentinels tended to be pushed into the area of oncology due to smelling and feeling the tumors in patients.

No, that wasn’t what he wanted to do. That was a certainty. Besides, the SGC had rated him rather low on the spectrum with just a level three Sentinel. That meant his hearing, sight, touch and smell were only thirty percent greater than that of a normal human. Taste was even lower with barely twenty-five percent. 

Additionally, he didn’t have any mental components to help him. Which sucked because he had a degree in psychology and having empathic abilities was usually very helpful.

What he had learned throughout the Sentinel and Guide training and what he had been told by others repeatedly, that he had brilliant instincts, not only in regards to medicine. He had to rely on those instincts form now on because those were all he had and the best guideline out there.

“Angus, how are you?” Mario approached him between one patient and the next. It was telltale that the other was worried about him and Angus could read the signs if not emotions. He was still glad to have studied human behavior to realize this now.

“I’m better. I was just about to go see Malaya,” he admitted. He had tried avoiding her because seeing her hurt was only bringing back that he had killed someone.

“She asked about you,” Mario agreed: “I am glad you’re better. If you ever need to talk,…”

Angus could feel the other man trying to offer support but not quite knowing how. He liked that about Mario and that was one reason he had befriended the other man. Another reason, as he could tell now, was the calm heartbeat. The fresh smell between the blood and mucus and urine.

“Thanks, Mario.” Angus said simply and walked to where Malaya was lying in bed, currently surrounded by Mama that was taking care of one of her panic attacks.

“Hey Malaya,” Angus greeted her and suddenly, seeing her sitting there, made him feel perfectly fine with having killed that man. It was as if his mind suddenly adjusted to seeing her healthy as a means to having killed.

He knew without a doubt right that second, that he wouldn’t ever lose sleep over that sicko again. He just hoped Malaya would be as lucky.

“Angus,” she replied with a smile: “I haven’t thanked you yet.”

“You don’t need to,” he replied: “Seeing you alive is worth it all,” he replied simply and Malaya’s eyes widened briefly when she registered the truth in his words.

“Are you in trouble now?”

“I won’t be,” he shook his head in simple denial: “Don’t worry about me. Worry about getting better and living with the attack. I’m here if you want to talk to and while others may have offered as well, I’m the only one that was there and had a psychological degree to help you.”

Malaya’s smile spreading across her lips was all the reassurance he needed to know that she would be fine given enough time, space and therapy. She was a strong woman.

“Angus, you’re requested for questioning,” Jesse said and looked from one to the other. Angus then nodded at Malaya and turned, heading for the upper levels of the building that housed the administration. That also housed his father’s office working for the board. Ironically enough, working in the same building didn’t mean seeing each other more often or frequently.

Not even after the attack had Desmond Leighton bothered to come down and visit his son. 

Answering question after question as good as he could, Angus reported about what had happened. He only left out the part where he pulled out the knife. Not that he had. He had watched the man pull it out and simply left his hands in the air. He had visualized pulling the knife himself so often that he had believed it for a second. But no, that guy had pulled it out and Angus hadn’t bothered with hands on the wound. So, sue him.

“My client is not responsible for the death of Ian McGreedy or whatever he called himself,” his lawyer said simply while the detective looked bored.

“We are just covering the basics,” the detective said: “We are not currently looking into any fault from the hospital staff as he had a knife and matching wounds to Dr Malaya Pineda. Dr Angus Leighton is simply asked to verify and how it came to be. We think that Dr Leighton forgot to mention a few details while under such stress.”

The lawyer turned to Angus for a sign which Angus gave. They had talked beforehand about getting out easily but only if arguing for over half an hour brought no result. Which, was right about now. Therefore, the lawyer continued: “My client would not have forgotten any detail. A Sentinel coming online in a stressful situation always remembers every detail, even if their instincts tell them to kill.”

“You never mentioned you were a Sentinel, Dr Leighton. The records don’t state that either.” The second detective in the room pointed out.

“Because I came online three days ago and all the administration is dealing with is the attack and no other personal paperwork?” Angus asked incredulous. His lawyer tried to hide a smile but failed to show his amusement.

“Thank you for letting us know, Dr Leighton. The case is therefore closed. It will go on record what you said here but we won’t mention your Sentinel status if you do not want us to.”

“No, I don’t. At least, not yet,” he said simply.

“Good, then that’s it, thank you,” the detectives dismissed Angus and his lawyer in an instant.

Damn, having come online as a Sentinel had saved his ass in a way. Though, no doubt, he probably would have found a way not to mention it and no one could have proven otherwise.

While he still thought about not helping the man and essentially killing someone, Angus found that right about now, he could deal with it just fine.

What wasn’t going so well though, were his senses. The control over those was simply not as easy as others made it out to be. As a level three, he was required to have all the classes to school his senses but not the finesse and natural shields and helpings as higher leveled Sentinels and Guides had. 

He got some pills from Heather that were supposed to help him but Angus realized quickly that they weren’t quite that helpful.

Plus, Mario.

Mario, his best friend, was there to call him out on it. To yell at him that he wouldn’t see another friend dying because of some shit he was taking. And damn it, Angus understood it very well.

He stopped that second and found that with Mario in the know, with Mario around him, it was suddenly very simple to deal with his senses. It was easy to quit talking the meds to dull his senses.

Which should have been a clue back then.

Instead, Mario’s shields had to come down before Angus even realized that the other man was a Guide.

It had taken them more than a year from first meeting each other to the point that Mario’s father came in. A second time at that.

The first time that Mario’s dad had been in the ER, Angus barely recognized him but somehow, Mario was his best friend and as such, Angus was trying to keep an ear out for the other man. Which meant he knew what Mario was talking about even if he barely laid eyes on the other man. Leighton had better things to do that time.

Besides, it looked like Savetti didn’t want to talk about it. Which Angus agreed to. It was his business and one thing he had learned about his best friend was, that his past wasn’t all that stellar. 

While Angus simply took the other man out for a couple of drinks after that, they never discussed it. Simply drowning the sorrows as it was. While Angus stayed mostly sober due to his still tricky senses.

The big slip up in Angus’ careful mental shields came when he heard that his brother had fallen out of the chopper. That it was a twenty feet drop. That they didn’t know the condition he would be brought in.

It was hell on Angus. He knew he was unfair to quite a few people around him and snappish at them but what was he supposed to do? That was his brother lying there, a Guide. Someone that had always realized when in all the chaos in the ER, Angus was close to zoning and touched him or distracted him at just the right second.

The shock that came next was when Angus knew for certain that his brother had chosen him as his medical proxy. The date that the medical proxy was signed was the day Angus had started in med school. It was breaking his heart to see how much his brother really liked him. That he trusted him with his life and more so, with his medical opinion. It showed the faith Mike actually held.

And then there was Mario yet again. Being there for him in silent support and helping him to keep up the spirit. Mario was standing behind Angus every day they ended their shift and stopped by to sit beside Mike’s bed for a few hours. 

The other man was always close and showed his support. He was sticking to Angus side and Angus knew he was selfish for a while there. He barely had time to help Mario and deal with the other doctors around. 

The moment that Angus was thinking about Mario in a complete different light was something trivial. It was the moment where his father tried to talk him into turning off life support. The moment when Desmond tried to push and persuade him to sign the medical proxy over to him.

“Mike chose you, Angus. Think about it. Why would he do that?” Mario asked him sincerely: “Go on, point it out to me.”

Angus sighed and looked down to his feet, nearly zoning but Mario nudged him again: “Angus?”

“I studied hard, I know him and know he would want me to keep him away from Dad. Mike always said that he trusts me the most,” he sighed: “Ever since Malaya got attacked, he told me he would trust me with his life.”

And he did believe it. After all, a Guide’s instinct was to trust a Sentinel in a difficult situation. And wasn’t that the whole point? Angus was a Sentinel. Desmond was the first mundane in their family in quite a while and ever since Mike had come online as a Guide, had tried to manipulate them. All the same time while loathing that Angus wasn’t online either. Another factor was that their whole family was basically Guides. All Sentinels had married into the Leightons.

“So be there for him,” Mario said: “He’s a fabulous Guide and there are a lot of doctors in his life that he could have signed the medical proxy to. He didn’t.”

Angus’ head snapped to look him in the eyes: “How do you know he’s a Guide?”

Mario’s face crumbled a bit before sighing: “I am a Guide myself. I never told you because you had all this crap on you, one after the other and I didn’t want to make you feel less than you are.”

The surprise was telltale in Angus’ face but that moment, his phone beeped to remind him of the results coming in for his patient. Talking briefly in the hallway always lead to people only exchanging a few sentences. You got used to starting conversations and stopping them on the spot to pick up later.

And later he would. While Angus didn’t have a mental ability whatsoever, he needed to drop his shields to realize who was a Guide or a Sentinel. He hadn’t once dropped his shields for obvious reasons and the Sentinels and Guides at the center had confirmed that with his shields up, no one was the wiser about his status.

Which bit him in the ass now. He had left before telling Mario that he had come online not too long ago.

Being manipulated to nearly sign the proxy made Angus angry. He couldn’t believe that his father had gotten around and found a Guide as a lawyer that was mentally gifted enough to manipulate someone to do as they pleased.

After Mario had told him he was a Guide, right next to him without knowing, Angus had assessed others around him as well. Especially around his father and could suddenly see the manipulation that was being done to him. 

“You just sign that, and the power of attorney from Mike will be transferred to me,” his Dad said and then waited a beat. Angus had the pen in his hand but hesitated. He wouldn’t make it that obvious that he knew the lawyer had manipulated him. Usually breaking a manipulation can only be done slowly or by revealing mental shields. 

“Angus.”

“Tell me why you think I can’t handle it,” he requested instead.

“Because you can’t.” 

There, the whole distrust in one simple sentence. The whole loathing Desmond had for him and how much he didn’t respect that he had in fact a doctor’s degree.

“Because when things get difficult, you look for a way out.”

Angus nearly snorted. Of course, you looked for a way out of a difficult situation. Everyone did. There were just different forms of a way out. A way around, through or slowly. Angus tended to think and overthink his decisions because he simply was uncertain. But wasn’t that what the Sentinel and Guide Centers had told him? He should listen to his gut.

Mike had told him he had to trust himself: “He chose me, Dad. He thought of a situation just like this, and he chose me instead of you.”

“Angus, please, just sign the paper.”

“For the - case in point - I am not running away from this.” He drew his hand back from right above the paper.

Desmond was interrupting him: “The kinds of decisions that this may require –“

“Mike was with me when I was in rehab. He was the only person who was there for me during my darkest time. I will not abandon him when he is at his,” Angus put the pen down and stood to leave. Okay, granted, he hadn’t been in rehab. Mario had saved him right before he became addicted and while he went to the Sentinel and Guide Center, Mike had sold it as Angus being at the rehab facility.

The yelled and angry “Angus” that followed him was easily heard by the Sentinel but Angus’ focus had turned back to listening to two heartbeats. Without consciously knowing he did it. Mario’s and Mike’s.

He took a deep breath in the elevator but then changed track and pressed another button. Hoping to see Mario again and getting a chance to talk to him might be the best.

But instead, he missed him. Probably by a few seconds because Mario’s heartbeat was getting out of range. Angus sighed and turned towards the research. He would find a way for his brother to be healthy again.

A hand suddenly grabbed him. His father had caught up to him and was glaring at him in anger: “This isn’t over! You have to turn off the life support!”

“I’m not giving up on him!” Angus replied: “It may be that you think his life is nor worthless but not for me. He made me his proxy and I will not give up on him. There’s time left.”

“You’re a fool! No Sentinel would ever want him as a vegetable,” his father said simply and Angus was close to hitting the other man, weren’t it for Leanne rounding the corner and seeing them on her way home.

Angus instead turned on the spot and left.

A meditation session across the street and relaxing techniques sounded pretty good right about now.

As a result, Angus was staying the night there in the center. He knew he still had to talk to Mario about the whole Sentinel and Guide thing. It was simply too big an issue not to talk about.

Heading back into work on a fresh day, he had an inspiration about a therapy method. He knew that staying on the ventilator for any longer would lead to Mike never coming off of it. Which, considering his death was an easy trade off but Angus could hear the muscles moving to the breaths and knew there was a slight chance that Mike was surviving without.

Nevertheless, the oximeter had to stay on. And of course, a 12 lead EKG. Those simply had to stay on.

The blood pressure looked good with a steady hundred and thirteen to seventy and a heartbeat of sixty. For someone in a coma, it looked quite good.

Angus visited him briefly before running off to confront Will Campbell. The man tried to talk Angus out of removing him from the ventilations alongside Desmond. Again, Angus had to talk and argue hard only to pull the card that he was responsible for his brother’s life. Thank you very much, he wouldn’t forget that any time soon.

The few seconds where the oxy showed a level of eighty and dropping were hard. The waiting for the telltale rise and fall of the breast without the ventilation. The level of the oxy stats rising again.

Angus heard it before it happened. He could hear the lung filling with air a second before the rise and fall was visible. Before the stats on the screen were increasing and leveling out.

“It’s looking good,” Angus whispered more to himself than anyone else and smiled at Campbell and his father. This showed them right. This was proof that Angus did his research and could care for his brother.

Heading down to work was hard but Angus’ one ear was steadily on his brother’s heart and breathing. His other ear was with his patients, the fellow doctors, the first years and of course, Mario.

Whom he still hadn’t talked to. He briefly followed Mario’s back across the room on the center stage but then was occupied again. Next he suddenly heard Mario’s heartbeat with his brother’s right next to him and frowned. He had known Mario and Mike had talked to each other when he had taken those pills before going to the SGC. What he didn’t know was what Mario was doing there now.

It turned out, that Mario had simply buffered Mike’s mental shields for a moment. He was in a coma, yes but that didn’t mean that other Guides couldn’t feel Mike, that they couldn’t get a read from him.

“How is my brother?” he asked his friend.

Mario looked at him for a second before realizing that Angus knew about him being a Guide: “He’s in there. That’s the good part. He gets emotions from all over the hospital that bleed into him. Other Guides come to him and buffer him as well. If we don’t do that, it might damage him or he could break mentally due to the stress. He won’t be able to erect shields until he’s conscious again because that’s his link to the outside.”

“Would his Sentinel be able to draw him out?” Angus asked with a frown: “I heard that this happened before.”

Mario nodded: “Theoretically, yes. The problem is, we don’t know who his Sentinel is, right?”

“Right,” the blond replied and with a frustrated sigh, turned his back to Mario. 

“Code Blue,” the announcement system blared that second and Angus was already moving into one direction before Mario was following. The Sentinel had already picked up where the action was happening and dived right into work again.

That night, he took Mario out for dinner. Just grabbing some food on their way home from work, some simple take away because they were drop dead tired on their feet and could need a break. A simple get together. A night-out with a friend. Or rather, a day out with a friend as they had had the night shift.

Thus, Mario crashed at Angus’ place after watching a movie but still, they hadn’t talked about it and with Angus’ mental shields up high, he doubted they would any time soon.

The blaring of the alarm clock let them both bolt upright on the first ring and they scrambled to get to work. Luckily enough, their scrubs were left at work so it wouldn’t draw too much attention that Mario came in the same clothes as the day before. Probably no one even saw them.

As the alarm clock was earlier than usual, Mario hesitated to come with Angus right away but the Sentinel dragged his friend with him to visit Mike. It could only help if Mario was around.

“Angus,” Mario started when he had entered the room a second after him: “He’s waking up.”

“What?” startled, the younger brother grabbed the elder’s hand and grinned brightly: “Really?”

“Yes, though it’s still the early stage but I can sense him pushing back against my mental shields,” Mario replied: “I’ll check the roster if a Guide is on duty.”

“What, do you all know each other or something?”

“There’s no secret club,” Mario snorted in amusement: “We feel each other and some Sentinels.”

“But not me.”

“No, not you. I wouldn’t have realized you were one without you telling me,” Mario agreed: “But with my shields up high, you would have to be quite strong to get past.”

“Have you checked if we’re compatible?” Angus asked hesitantly. He loved Mario. He admitted it, he had fallen for his best friend but so far, nothing in his life has been easy those past few months and without getting a grip on his life, there was no reason to jump into a relationship or out himself to his best friend only to possibly lose him. Especially now, if they weren’t compatible.

Mario shook his head: “No, I haven’t dared it yet.”

That meant something right there but Angus was distracted when he heard noise from the hallway that was his father and Campbell: “Someone’s coming.”

Mario nodded and hung his head a bit, yet again knowing that they were interrupted in an important conversation.

Not wanting to be confronted, Mario and Angus left, passing Desmond and Campbell with a brief: “Shift’s starting,” and walking further away.

While Angus wasn’t around when Mike woke up, he wasn’t far and he was there a second later. He had followed the other’s heartbeat and when you were awake, it simply was different. Thus, Angus was hitting up Leanne to plead for leave.

She nodded, of course she understood. She always did. With a brief glance at Mario, he headed upstairs. It looked like things were finally looking up.

That is, until Mike couldn’t feel his legs. That is, until they started yet again on whether Mike should do the surgery or not. Of course, Angus was on Mike’s side. He was his brother and he understood the workings of a Guide a bit better now than he used to.

Waiting for the surgery to show a result was a whole different matter.

Working was a good distraction even if Mario was pretty much shadowing him on the spot. Fine, Angus could deal with that. He could work with Mario and not think of his brother’s surgery. He could work and function.

The shootout in the ER was another matter. Losing one of their own. Angus was mad at himself that he wasn’t there instead of Jasmine. Err, Charlotte. Damn it, he was completely caught up in Mike’s recovery that he barely remembered her name. It was very bad for him to forget her so soon after she had died protecting a child. But that was the life as a Sentinel now. He knew that. He rationally knew that it was his own sanity at stake but he wished for a bit more compassion every now and then.

Maybe even wishing for an empathic ability. He had wanted a mental ability to better read and help people. That this didn’t come to pass was simply a shame.

Jesse was coming up to him and drew him out of his thoughts: “Mike’s out of surgery. It went well, that’s all they can say for now.”

Angus nodded his thanks and quickly went to find Mike. He would stay with him until it was clear whether he could feel his legs or not.

With Mike on the mend and then off to physiotherapy, Angus was back to his usual self. He wasn’t lost in his head at intervals and though Mike wasn’t there to watch over him, Mario took that spot as his Guide right after.

Therefore, when Angus was hit with a wave of distress, dislike, hate, loathing and repulsion, it struck him as weird because, seriously. He didn’t have a mental ability. Where the heck did he feel that from? Who was projecting directly to him or other Guides?

When another Guide close by showed no signs of distress, Angus got suspicious and quickly excused himself from the patient in front of him to go looking for the source. While the mental onslaught wasn’t as easy to locate as a sound or smell, Angus did let his instinct lead and stopped dead in his tracks when he rounded the corner and saw Mario with his father. 

The raspy voice he heard was the same he had realized by Savetti Senior’s previous stay. That and the genetic markup that he had been trained to detect. And that training came in handy because he could single out a matching donor before blood type tests needed to be made. 

Mario’s offer of money and a check was worrying Angus. He knew that their relationship wasn’t the best but this showed why Mario had reacted the way he had when Angus had first started abusing the meds. It was clear where the loathing came from and secretly, Angus was very happy that he had listened to Mario and Mike.

When Mario stalked away from his father with an angry huff, Angus just stared after him. It was way too busy today to try to talk to him about what was bothering him. And that he was projecting to Angus; which was a puzzle in itself. He had his shields up, so had Mario and he shouldn’t be able to sense that.

The next he saw of Savetti Senior was when the man was brought to the stage. He was crashing and only Jesse and Angus had caught on but Angus was busy as well, having his hands full. Noa was doing CPR and looking at Mario when the other man finally came around to the center stage, staring ahead in shock: “Its been forty minutes.” 

Mario didn’t react at first and Angus cursed himself. He was too far away. He needed to help the other man. Mario was called out of his frozen stare eventually and then replied: “I wanna call it.”

Apparently, no one around them knew it was his father but Noa. Still, she was trying to save Vincent’s life: “I can try to-“

“Its over. Call it.” Mario was rational. Cold even if it weren’t for the rational, realistic mind a Guide could have.

Noa did: “Time of death, six thirty-two pm.”

Mario was pushing away, leaving and Angus’ hands were bloody and inside someone else or he would have run after him. Jesse was looking surprised at the others: “That was Mario’s father.”

Leanne was looking at him in surprise. Angus had already known, as had Noa, but no one else and the silence came after Mario’s retreating back. Angus apparently made a micro expression or move because Leanne was pointing her head at him to follow after Mario. Their patient had stabilized.

It still wasn’t possible to catch up to Mario until later. Much later. Right after their shift when Mario was heading straight down to the morgue, his father’s body lying there under the pale white sheet and Mario was staring at the body.

A sigh slipped from Mario’s lips and it was the only sign that the other was thinking heavy thoughts: “You show up just to die right in front of me,” Angus heard though he was still half a hallway away. The senses simply were sharp enough in the quiet that was the morgue before dawn: “You know, you could've disappeared. Never would've known,” Mario talked to Vincent’s body, sitting down. The heavy sigh was coming once again and Angus was stepping to the door, looking in on the darkened room and his friend.

“Did you come here on purpose? Did you know? You were right here. You were finally here.” Mario was barely holding on now. He was using a touch to his face to keep it together.

Angus stepped behind him now, there if he needed him: “Hey,” Angus announced and touched him but Mario was shrugging him off, proclaiming: “I’m okay,” before turning back and shaking his head. Angus simply reached out to touch his shoulder again: “Yeah,” Angus agreed.

“I said I’m okay, Jeez,” Mario said and moved his arm to shrug Angus off again. Angus dropped his hand and Mario cleared his throat. 

“Come here,” Angus said, reaching out to the Guide yet again. He could feel the shields and emotions wavering.

Mario stood: “Look man, I’m all right, okay?” Angus had already reached out to indicate a hug, trying to draw Mario in for comfort: “Come here,” Angus repeated.

“I’m serious,” Mario said again, trying to shove Angus away but only halfheartedly. Angus could tell he needed to push.

“Come here,” Angus said, dropping both his hands on Mario’s shoulders.

“I’m okay,” Mario replied yet again, his voice breaking this time and Angus finally agreed: “I know.”

Mario gave in, falling into his arms and starting to cry, to break down. Finally, after a short time of holding on tight. He still was proclaiming “I’m okay.”

Angus only held on. Mario repeated “I’m okay,” about four, five times more before giving up. 

All the Sentinel could do now was to hold on to Mario, to keep on giving back the support that the other man had given him the past few months. The support and strength to get over the death of a parent, no matter how much of a jerk they had been, no matter how much they had started to drink themselves to death.

He didn’t know how long he was down there with Savetti in his arms. Crying, every now and then saying he was okay but mentally not showing it. Angus was simply holding on, feeling the scrubs sticking to his skin where they were soaking through with tears but Angus had had much worse on his scrubs.

It took a while and Angus had waved more than one nurse or doctor away through the glass doors to leave them alone. Eventually, Mario was drawing back a bit, wiping away his tears with the back of his hands but Angus was trying not to let him get too far away. He needed his mental shields, but not mental walls.

“Want me to come home with you?” Angus asked carefully. He knew Guides tended to either shelter themselves and let no one close or surround themselves with friends.

He knew Mario well enough that the other wouldn’t be the latter kind.

“Yes,” he replied, barely audible for a human but clear as a bell for a Sentinel.

Not bothering to head back to their lockers, Angus simply took Mario outside to his car and produced his keys and their clothes anyways. He had figured something like that and gone ahead.

Mario was simply staring out the window, head resting on the cool surface of the glass. Leighton knew that no words were needed right now. They were unnecessary and not wanted. There was nothing you could do to ease the pain.

Angus used Mario’s keys to let them into the small apartment and shed Mario off his work scrubs. There simply was something about all the germs and mucus on the scrubs that Angus hated to see getting past the hallway. Therefore, he pooled both their scrubs on the doorstep, then ushered Mario into the shower.

While Mario was in the bathroom, Angus was taking the time at the small kitchen sink to clean his hands, face and arms before raiding the fridge for some food. He found enough for a BLT sandwich and started to work. By the time Mario reappeared, Angus had a sandwich and wordlessly pushed it at the other man: “Eat.”

The death glare he got in return was matched with a raised eyebrow: “You’re a doctor, Savetti, think.”

Half a sandwich was better than no sandwich. Angus ate the other half and then focused on the Guide: “Are we going to talk about this?”

Mario sighed again, but this time it was something different. More like gathering his thoughts: “This? You mean the Sentinel and Guide thing?”

“I mean the thing where I felt your distress even though I’m not empathic,” Angus replied: “So, yes.”

Mario nodded and crossed his arms in front of his chest. That without a shirt on, was a rather distracting sight. Angus focused back on the Guide’s eyes and waited. The dark haired answered: “Damn it Angus, this is crappy timing. I didn’t know it was possible because only my Sentinel is supposed to be able to feel the empathy I give out. And only when we’re bonded.”

“I am your Sentinel,” Angus realized: “How long have you known?”

Mario looked at Angus in surprise: “About just now?”

“This is really crappy timing,” Leighton agreed: “Are you stable? Do you want to bond?”

“What question is that! Of course I want to bond! Do you have any idea how rare it is for a Sentinel to meet their Guide? For a Guide, low leveled like me, to find a Sentinel?” Mario snapped: “Yes, damn it Angus, you’re perfect. Ever since we’ve met, I felt drawn to you. I was sad to find out you’re not a Sentinel. And when I did, I thought you weren’t interested.”

“Your shields were up, how was I supposed to know?”

“I didn’t know either,” Mario replied: “Not until just now. I hadn’t realized I was already bonded to you.”

“I listened to your heartbeat from the first second. I just never realized it was you,” Angus whispered.

“So, what do you think, ritual or sexual?” Mario asked: “I need,… I can’t-“

“I know,” Angus replied quickly and he did. He knew how Mario couldn’t lose anyone else and anything but a bonding right now and Mario would break. Angus’ fingers intertwined with Mario’s: “I really do know. I’m happy you’re my Guide. You’re perfect.”

A smile tugged on Mario’s lips. His eyes sparkled with happiness. He was standing up quickly then, tugging on Angus’ hands to make him follow him to the bed. This was certainly headed one way and Angus couldn’t say that he was opposed. He also knew that they were in for a nesting period.

“We need to bond. Now,” Mario said: “I know you probably don’t know how and without empathic ability-“

“There’s only the sexual one since I haven’t gotten that far in my studies,” the blond replied: “trust me Mario, that won’t be a problem.”

The grin on Mario’s lips was gone from Angus’ sight after just a second because their lips were locked. 

Everything that followed was lost in a rush of adrenaline, sex and bonding. Mental shields, emotions, feelings and thoughts were merging, skin touching skin and a possessiveness that swapped over them.

What came next, the following morning, was the blaring of the music of one of their phones. Savetti barely fished one up from the floor, Angus’ arm across his hips when he answered nearly drunken on sleep: “Yeah?”

The possessive Sentinel was already listening in on the other voice: “Mario? Where the heck are you? Your shift started half an hour ago and there’s no sign of Angus.”

“Dr Rorish?” Mario asked confused and Angus pulled the phone closer: “Nesting period,” before hanging up.

“She knows?”

“Yep.”

“Good to know,” Mario replied before burying back closer to Angus and falling right back asleep.

Eventually, they got up and Angus tolerated people being around Mario again. It had only been four days but word had gotten out that Mario was on family leave while Angus had apparently gotten the flu.

Seriously, they both knew no one was buying into that one. Like, everyone knew they were close friends, there had been rumors of more. Their hospital was like an own version of a soap opera. 

Showing up again got raised eyes from Campbell but the doctor had been right there when Mario’s father had passed so he wouldn’t be saying anything. And the Leighton’s relationship with Campbell wasn’t stellar either. Leanne had stuck her head out and reported them both absent and there was nothing they would be saying against her.

Noa was grinning at them when they entered together and raised her eyebrow. Malaya was nodding at them in a newfound respect, Heather was smirking at them, Jesse clapped Angus’ back, and Ethan barely spared them a glance. 

“Only one missing in gloating or something is Mike,” Angus muttered. Mario shrugged and couldn’t care less. He wasn’t a people person to begin with, trying to alienate others before they alienated him and thus wasn’t the most outgoing. He held their respect though. 

Angus seriously didn’t care either. They would need to cross the street and get registered though. Secretly. And they needed to fill out a relationship form with HR which Angus really didn’t like because that was paperwork that would cross his father’s desk. Being signed in as a Sentinel hadn’t been. It was a private matter but a relationship, even Sentinel and Guide, wasn’t.

Mario patted Angus on the forearm: “I’ll catch you around.”

“Call me when you need me,” Mario said and referred to simply mentioning his name. Mario knew that he would be listening in the whole day anyways. They were too recently bonded.

“You’ll know when I’m in trouble,” Angus replied simply with a smile.

Halfway through the day, Mike came in, on his way to another checkup he had inside the hsospital: “Angus, where have you been the last two days? I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“Sorry Mike,” Angus replied: “I was with my Guide.”

Mike’s reply was not coming as expected. He paused in his thoughts, mouth open for the obvious excuse that this time around, wasn’t coming: “What?”

“My Guide. Nesting. Bonded.” Angus said with a big smile on his lips.

The big grin that spread over Mike’s lips was telltale. It was happiness that Angus had found his match; it was a proud big brother that was looking up. He smirked: “I’m proud of you. So, who is it?”

Before Angus could reply, the nearest alarm was blaring. Angus was already heading off and Mike was wheeling his chair after him. He was better educated for now so he would help Angus if the other man needed it. Giving a few lines as a hint was enough that Angus could save the patient, without much fuss this time before turning back around, disinfecting his hands and looking around the room: “Shall I take you up?”

“Please, if you can spare the minute,” Mike replied.

They climbed on a nearly empty elevator: “So, spill.”

“I can’t not right now. We haven’t signed anything,” Angus replied: “If the wrong person listens in, it would be bad.”

Mike sighed: “I’ve met my Sentinel, you know?”

“What?” Angus asked in surprise: “Well, where the heck are they?”

Mike was about to reply when they were stopping on one floor and the passenger, an elder lady, got out and the doors were about to close but the last second, Ethan Willis jumped on: “Hey there.”

“Speaking of the devil,” Mike replied. Willis looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Angus gaped: “Oh seriously?”

“What? Why else would I climb on a helicopter?” Mike asked simply. Ethan was looking hurt for a moment, apparently a sore point between them.

“I’m a crappy Sentinel,” Ethan replied: “We couldn’t bond before the accident.”

“We’re heading up to Dad now,” Mike said simply: “Wanna come?”

“No, no I don’t,” Angus replied: “But welcome to the family, I guess.”

“Likewise,” Ethan replied in his gruff military manner. 

“I’m sorry, if I had known…my power of attorney would have gone to you.”

“Which is why I didn’t tell you. You are a Sentinel as well and he’s your brother. I wasn’t anything and had no proof. Besides that, I was completely out of it,” Willis replied.

“So, who’s your Guide?” 

“Savetti of course,” Ethan said quickly: “Good choice. And sorry to spill the beans but you smell of him.”

Angus shrugged: “We knew that it would be likely. Someone would be able to tell.”

Mike grinned at him: “Mario is a good guy.”

That was all the blessing Angus could get for now. That and a new family member. Now how to explain that to Mario?

Heading back down, the chaos was going on when a woman showed up and stared at Mario. Who the heck was she? She was looking at Mario constantly, waving at him and observing, nodding. The brief moment at the nurse’ station, Mario noticed.

“Who, who is that woman? Do you know her?” he asked his Guide and nodded at her.

“No.” Mario replied and Angus kept silent, knowing that Mario wanted to say more: “You know, I don’t have a single, good memory of my father.”

Angus watched him leave but headed after him to press for more. Mario complied:

He sighed: “She wants me to come to the funeral.”

“You can’t tell me you’re not going,” Angus frowned: “By the way, I walked into Mike. It looks like you have an in-law Sentinel.”

“What?”

“Dr Ethan Willis.”

“No way!” Mario gasped in surprise.

“Way,” Angus replied: “heads up, Campbell is on the way.”

They hurried off to work in different directions. Disappearing in the maze that was the ER and the center stage. They barely had time to meet up again then but finally, they did.

The last moment when they met that day was once again in the locker room. Mario was taking on his suit and fumbling with his tie: “Ack.”

“If you’d uh, given me a little more time, I could’ve worn my own instead of uh, hunting through lost and found,” Angus started consciously and sighed: “How do I look?”

“Like a homeless person,” Mario replied with a laugh. 

“Let me help you,” Angus said and stepped up to him, looking strange in his old suit that was borrowed. He reached for Mario’s tie and started to tie it in a perfectly straight bow, muttering “What did you do here?” before finishing. He lasted a second longer, taking his time to straighten the fabric down Mario’s chest.

“How do I look?” Mario replied in a mocking tone but it was a defense mechanism. The knowledge that this was for a funeral was heavy in the air.

“Perfect.” Angus replied, letting it sink in and smiling at the other man.

They made their way outside into the hallway in silence. The glass doors separating everything was keeping the blond woman away. Barely crossing to stand beside her, Mario introduced them: “Angus, Linda, Linda, Angus,” Mario said simply.

“Nice to meet you,” Angus started and shook her hand briefly: “You’re his-“ a questioning look was cut to Mario.

Linda cut in: “I’m his stepmother.”

“No, she’s not. She is – was my father’s girlfriend.” Mario corrected and Angus got that it was an important difference to be made.

“Same difference,” she smiled at him. “I'm glad that you decided to come to the funeral.”

“Yeah, well, might as well see what I'm paying for,” Mario said and turned away. Angus was frowning at his Guide and tried to be there in silent support.

“Should we take your car?” Linda offered. 

Mario sighed: “It's in the shop.”

Linda smiled at him in a rather sad manner: “Not that car. The Impala. I think your dad would like you to have it.” Linda turned with a smile and a grin, taking off into the direction.

Mario looked at Angus to see if he heard right, barely believing what Linda was saying: “Does it still have that dashboard waitress?” 

“Yeah, the one that shows her ass every time you hit a bump?” Linda chucked him the keys: “She's still there.”

Mario stared at the keys, still not quite believing it: “I used to love that thing. He used to drive straight into a pothole just to make me laugh.” And with that, Mario touched Angus to reassure himself, all the while realizing that there was his happy memory. One. Coming back to him now.

Heading to the funeral was rather uneventful. There were quite a lot of people showing up, mostly Jesse, Leanne and Noa who had been right there when Vincent Savetti had died. Then a few people Mario’s father had known, some old friends and family members that Mario barely had any connection to anymore. 

Angus was only going there because it was Mario’s father and his Guide needed the support. That and being there for someone is always good, even if you’ve never met their parents. Leighton was also a bit sad that he wouldn’t get a chance to meet the man now.

What Angus got to know, though, was that Mario still had a grandmother. She was still in Mario’s life but had recently tried to push her grandson to talk to her son again and Mario simply loathed the drunken man.

That he realized he had one happy memory was important for him.

“Let’s go,” Mario said eventually. They were simply the last persons besides Linda to be on the graveyard. Angus held out his hand, the first indicator that they were together to outsiders.

Mario took it, ignoring the startled look from Linda but she was wise enough not to say anything. Walking hand in hand off to the shiny Impala, Mario stopped in his tracks when he saw his grandma waiting for them on the way. She was eying him critically and Mario tensed for a moment, about to drop Angus’ hand but the Sentinel was holding on.

“No,” Angus said: “They don’t get to decide who you are or whom you’re with, Mario. They are your family I get that but they don’t get a say in this between us. That’s a law.”

“Thanks,” he whispered simply, stepping up to his grandma.

“I thought better of you, dragging one of your latest conquests here,” she said with distain.

Angus held back though he had an instinct to stand up for his Guide. This was Mario’s turn though. Angus squeezed his hand tightly.

“Nana, meet my Sentinel Dr Angus Leighton. We’ve been working together for the past year.” Mario said and waited for his grandma to hear it.

“Your Sentinel?” She asked in surprise: “Your mother was a Guide,” she nodded: “Good, good on you to finally settle down.”

“My mom was a Guide?” Mario asked in surprise and Angus realized then and there that his mother must have passed away when he was very little, with a father falling into the abyss.

Nana looked at him with sadness in her eyes: “She was, and it’s my fault you never knew about it. Your father was devastated. He never talked about her again.”

Mario nodded but was rather put out. He was starting to break apart again and Angus could feel it in their shared shields. He could feel the distress that was coming up.

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt here,” Angus threw in: “But we really need to be going.”

Nana looked at him for a second but apparently could read something on Mario’s face because she nodded, grabbed Mario for a brief hug before stepping back. Linda was in the background, looking on but merely nodding at Mario. 

Walking a few steps away from everyone, Angus’ shields wrapped around his Guide. He had learned to expand Mario’s mental protection to his liking as well and could use it to get hints from people around them as much as block them out.

Totally lost in his own thoughts, Mario was quickly regaining his composure. Angus was silently walking on, barely expanding his hearing to the family and friends still left at the grave.

He stopped next to the other man once they reached the shiny Impala. Angus followed suit as Mario leant back against the metal. They looked on to the city, not the grave behind them. The Angel’s was gleaming in the distance. 

“Ready to go?” Mario asked after a short while. 

Angus smiled at his partner and grinned slightly: “You’re the one I’m waiting on.”

Mario nodded, took out his keys and threw him a look: “You know, I really need to get you out of those clothes before you develop a rash and bitch about it the whole night.”

“Right, who made me wear those loans when I have a perfectly fine suit at home?” Angus replied but got into the car next to Mario.

The figure on the dashboard was drawing Angus’ attention a couple of times. They went home right away.

It was the next day that they were back in the chaos that was the ER. They were not given a time out of their normal life. As much as they wanted that, it wasn’t that they could call and have a personal day. Not that quickly and definitely not together.

Which would be another problem in the future. Someone would have to cover them both if they stayed on the same shift but they were hoping Neal would be coming back eventually. Hopefully with Christa.

Leanne was approaching them right away when they started their shift. She looked tired and worn down, blood spatters on her cheek that only Angus could see. Mario was sharing a look with his Sentinel but Dr Rorish spoke before either could: “I’ve pulled a double. I need you with me please.”

No one else was around just yet, no first years, barely anyone from their shift. Angus followed quickly while Mario slouched his shoulders and followed a second later, probably already knowing something from Leanne’s mental situation about where they were headed.

She stopped in front of a separated corner: “I have a child here that I think was abused but their parent doesn’t ever leave them alone and I can’t detect anything from her. She’s calm and withdrawn.”

“You want us to find out if she really is being abused?” Mario bristled. Angus touched him calming and relaxed his whole body. Mario sighed before continuing: “This isn’t something that I can simply detect.”

“Not only you,” she agreed: “I fear she had broken bones that weren’t set correctly and her parents refuse an NMRI.”

Angus perked up at that, sharing a frown: “I can’t go in and touch her all over, especially if she has been abused.”

“That’s why Mario is here with you,” Leanne pleaded with her eyes: “I don’t want to call child services without knowing the truth and for you it’s barely a few minutes. I’ll keep the parents busy and call out Angus’ name if they’re headed back.”

It was Mario that broke first: “Fine, but please don’t misuse us as your personal sniff dogs.”

Leanne smirked: “Damn, you’ve already figured me out. Don’t forget, Savetti, I’m currently the only one that knows about your status and that signs off on your vacation days.”

“Low blow, I’ll tell Mama about that,” Mario replied but indicated for Leanne to go ahead.

They hung back, waiting for Leanne to work her magic with the parents before they both approached the girl. She was a petite girl, beautiful brown eyes, long black wavy hair and a stuffed penguin with her.

“Hey there,” Angus greeted: “I’m Angus, this is my Guide Mario.” He started and pointed at Mario: “He’s not the friendliest, opposed to what we normally think of a Guide.”

The girl looked at them with surprise: “What are you doing here? More tests?”

“We are here to look you over and keep you a bit of a company,” Angus replied and shook her hand: “You didn’t tell me your name?”

“Anne,” she replied with a smile. Angus nodded and carefully lowered her hand back onto the bed. He had heard the slight crepitation the bones had made under her skin: “Are you here because my arm hurts?”

“Where does it hurt?” Angus asked carefully and Anne pointed out her other arm. Angus carefully dialed up his touch sense and felt carefully along the bones. She barely flinched and Angus shared a quick look with Mario but the other man had a stoic face.

After the arm, Angus nodded: “It feels broke. May I touch you on your other bones to look for where its hurting?”

“Will it hurt?”

“No, if I hurt you in the slightest, I want you to pinch me,” Angus replied and placed her good hand on his upper arm.

Anne giggled slightly but waited for Angus to carefully touch her bones. Every now and then, Angus could detect some emotion from Mario and their shared shields. But nothing certain: “That was it, Anne. You’re a great girl. What is your penguin called?”

“That’s Pingu,” she replied: “I was very little when I named him.”

“I like pingu,” Mario said easily: “I had a stuffed animal that’s called doggie.”

“You still have that,” Angus replied with mocking fondness in his voice and Anne giggled. They were relieved that she was in a good spirit.

“Angus, incoming,” Leanne’s voice from across the ER chimed in. 

“Thank you, Anne, for your time,” Angus said formally and bowed deeply.

Anne giggled away before Mario and Angus simply disappeared behind another curtain and another patient’s bed next to them, without the parents knowing anything.

Leanne was rounding the ER and showed up right next to them again: “How did it go?”

“Good,” Angus replied and Mario continued seamlessly: “At least she talked and agreed to Angus touching her. Whenever Angus hit a spot where she had been hurt, she flashed back to terror but calmed when she knew she could hurt Angus back by pinching him.”

“She has over six fractures that haven’t healed as they’re supposed to. Either no one noticed or-“

“She was abused and ignored,” Leanne said resigned: “I’ll call child services.”

“Sorry about the outcome,” Angus said.

She smiled sadly and tiredly at them: “Thank you. I promise I won’t abuse your powers.”

“Just so you know, Ethan and my brother are a pair. Use them just as well,” Angus said and smirked evilly: “And Ethan is a good Sentinel and surgeon.”

Mario chuckled and punched Angus in the shoulder in a manner that they used to when they were just friends. They walked off, getting back to their usual work routine. Mario mostly with Noa, Angus mostly rotating.

They caught flashes of each other throughout the day but never much. Angus was frozen on a spot suddenly, zoning on a small matter that barely caught his eye and Mario was far away, his head snapping up and around, looking at Angus in a frozen state.

Malaya was the one to walk past: “Mario?”

Mario’s hands were still soaked in blood and he had no way of leaving right now: “Check on Angus please. Touch him carefully.”

Malaya looked around and finally caught what Mario was saying: “Wait he’s-“

“Yep, and I’m the Guide with zero social skills,” Mario replied snarky and grinned.

Malaya hurried off, doing as Mario said while Mario whispered Angus’ name to draw him out. Angus’ confused state lasted a few seconds before he looked at Malaya and the mental state of Mario swapped over. 

Angus nodded at the woman and she raised an eyebrow but they were in the middle of the hallway so that was hardly the place and time to talk. Angus barely shrugged: “Since then.”

Malaya caught on right away: “You considered me family. Enough so that you came online.”

“That I did,” Angus agreed and turned back to what he had been doing before. Malaya smiled at him, whispered a “Thank you” low enough for everyone but Angus.

The shift passed in a blur after that. They were quick to head home, whereas home meant Angus’ apartment for now simply because he had a nicer place and had a cleaning contractor come in to deal with the Sentinel-friendly stuff. 

Mario had already handed in his notice for his apartment as they would not spend any time apart now anyways and paying double rent was simply a stupid thing to do.

“You know, about the rent thing,” Angus said suddenly, driving back home in the Impala together.

“What about it?”

“I only bought food from it. And electricity. Your share that is. I saved the rest and wired it back to pay back your student loans.”

“You did what?” Mario asked, incredulous.

“I got a full ride from my father’s friends, Mario. I live in the apartment that my aunt left me and she owned the whole building. I renovated the whole building after her death from her leftover money and the rent. This building is paid for. All that’s adding to it are the taxes and other bills.” Angus sighed: “And before you ask, Mike lives in an apartment that my dad bought him.”

“You never mentioned that before.”

“Because it doesn’t matter. And I know you want to pay your share but there literally is nothing to pay. Well, besides food. We can live of the added bonus I get from one apartment for rent. The other apartments’ lease money goes to a special account that I withdraw money from when the house needs to be refurbished or repairs.”

Mario looked at Angus in surprise: “So that’s that then.”

“I guess.”

“You could have told me before and I would have moved in with you the first day I met you,” Mario joked and Angus laughed.

Essentially moving Mario’s things to their apartment took a few trips in Angus’ old car and Mario’s Impala. The other stuff had migrated over time or wasn’t needed simply because two couches were one too many.

While no one at work knew about them besides a selected few – Malaya, Jesse, Leanne, Ethan and Mike, they were keeping a low profile. Working together was the same as working apart. They always knew when one was in trouble over something. Mostly it was Angus though, because the sensual distress was just too great.

A few weeks before Mike was supposed to be back at work though, Mario was too close to someone dying. It was a case that Mario could relate to, namely a Sentinel and Guide pair that had been hit in an accident and were fighting for their lives.

Ethan had been around and repeatedly told Mario to draw back from mentally buffering them, dragging Mario to the sideline over and over again with no good outcome. Mario simply was mentally touched by the Pair and too close.

Angus only got a small feedback, barely enough to consciously sense but the way Mario felt the emotional dying of the pair, liked as he was, it was bad. Mario was essentially mentally coding. It was as if the heart stopped. It was close to dragging him down with him.

It was said to be a rare thing. Not impossible but probably more likely around a hospital. That was yet another reason why the Sentinel and Guide Center was opposite the hospital. The feeling that Angus was getting from their shared mental shields was a darkness that was trying to drag him under and Angus had to step out of his patient’s room, into the hallway and was bracing himself on the walls to find strength in the cool surface, to ground himself and to try to fight back the blackness in the shields by thoughts of happiness, sunshine and love.

Love. While they were bonded and essentially together, Angus hadn’t associated love with Mario yet. It had been too new. Too close to a friendship or friends with benefits. Now, this was love and it was the first-time Angus was trying that emotion to overwhelm their shields.

It was the moment he also realized that he had tried to ignore it, or to simply push it down and keep it from Mario.

Suddenly, another mental shield was wrapping around him and Mario’s, buffering them for a second that helped Angus to stabilize his and Mario’s bond.

Thank god Mike had been in the hospital.

Mario’s startled look a few seconds later showed how much the other man was shocked of what had happened. Of what had taken place in a split second. 

A blink of an eye later and the mental shields were strong and stable again, pushing everything away that was around them and emotions of others.

Angus was stalking over to his Guide, simply wrapping him into a fierce hug, right there in the middle of the hectic and chaos and just held on. Mario’s hands around him were steadying him now as much as he was steadying Mario.

“I love you, too,” Mario replied and suddenly the whole shields were made up of love that wasn’t only Angus’ but Mario’s as well.

It was as if a barrier had come down.

A clearing of a throat behind them drew them back and Campbell looked at them with a frown: “I respect your friendship and all that but this is work, not your private lives.”

A blush stole across Angus’ face while Mario nodded and headed back into the chaos and the nurse station to get a new sheet with a new patient.

That was actually just the calm before the storm. The calm before the call came in that multiple people were on their way. The many people that were rushed into the center stage and where one nurse and one doctor were dropping like a fly over something.

A second later, Angus felt it. He had touched the clothes that their patients had come in with. It was crawling up his skin from the air a second later, without touching. The only protection Angus had was the long sleeve that he had been wearing for a change.

“Decontamination!” he yelled across the chaos of two of their own on the ground and many patients being brought in. It was something acting fast, making their patients seize and collapse. Angus looked around the corridor where ten people were currently seizing and being treated while more of their personal was swooning or passing out: “Decontamination!” Angus yelled again and this time Dr Rorish heard him over the chaos.

Angus barely realized that Mike was in this chaos. That the other man had his first day back at work right there and was in yet more danger of something attacking them, some kind of chemicals that Angus couldn’t make out yet. He smelled it though. He could feel it more clearly now.

Leanne barely shot him a glance before bellowing the order as a repeat. Campbell was looking at them but followed suit as they were quickly bringing the patients outside into the decontamination area and switching on the overhead showers for all of them. The flood of water was washing down all the poison. Hopefully.

It felt like pinpricks on his skin. Angus was trying hard not to focus on the sensation but found it hard. The water was also clearly coming down on his skin and while it was washing away the acid feeling, the water pressure was hard and hurting him.

The skin stopped prickling and started to be soothing. The cool water was quickly drenching all their clothes and Angus saw their patients stabilizing almost instantly. At least some of them. They were hit with adrenaline, it mostly working to keep whatever it was at bay for a moment.

A second later, Angus realized Mario was in the chaos and while it was his instinct to protect his Guide, Angus tried hard to fight it back. Mario was mostly fine, also being showered and cleaned from whatever chemicals he was getting.

While working on their patients, Angus barely had time to check on Mario or Mike again but the knowledge that both were mentally feeling alright was enough to make him okay and push forward. They were working hard to get their patients back into the ER and getting them dry. Some of their nurses had been left inside, luckily enough so they were dealing with the patients first. Angus and the others were one after the other being cleared and checked through while Angus was one of the last to get dry scrubs and a shower to remove the last from his skin and hairs.

Mike’s first day back turned out to be a disaster already. That and Angus had been assigned by Campbell to work with Mike again and while they got along as brothers most of the time, Angus had seen the tremors in Mike’s hand. The guy had been in a coma from a head trauma barely three months prior. That he could walk alone had been a miracle back then.

Trying to get a needle filled with medicine was a daily move that they all had down to pat. That Mike was stabbing himself with a needle now was not good. Mike was dismissing Angus’ concerns with changing the topic or pulling rank. The behavior was worrisome but Angus got that his brother needed to prove a point for being back at work. To prove to himself that he could work again and not be a liability. Showing others that he had survived intact.

Therefore, he didn’t say anything. Mike was a resident there, Angus himself barely a second year. It was clear who held the cards in this one. Nevertheless, Angus was keeping an eye on him. Big brother or not, Angus would be there for him as a Sentinel could be. He would be monitoring Mike throughout the hallways and was secretly looking at Evan whenever he could to make sure the other man was also knowing what was going on with Mike.

Keeping an eye out on Mario wasn’t misplaced either. He was cornered by Linda again as she tired to make Mario connect with her but Angus knew from experience the other man would need some talking to, some time to process it. He needed a distance from her first before maybe connecting with her. His father’s death had hit him harder than he let on, even if his mental focus as a Guide was guaranteeing him no hardship over the matter.

Ignoring Linda and trying to handle Noa and their patient, Mario was gruff with their patient’s family member. The young woman, step-daughter to their patient, was accusing of not wanting to be a family and staying away. She wanted to talk to their patient about it but Mario intervened after a short moment in a manner that he should have known better. It left their patient and the step-daughter distressed and angry.

And once again, Angus realized that his Guide was quite helpless when it came to giving council. Noa had to be the one to talk to a girl about her step-mother. The situation was quite similar to Linda and trying to reach out to Mario, her step-son, who refused because he thought they had nothing in common. That they were no family. It was driving home a point for Mario and Angus was glad that this time it was someone else to talk to Mario and influence him. That Mario considered Linda as all the family he had left alongside his grandmother.

While Mario was contemplating what was going on, Angus was suddenly heading to the break room, barely making it to the sink before puking in. He sighed and took a sip of cool water, nearly gagging again when he tasted the chlorine. 

Mario had gotten another patient, so had Angus, but the main patient was still one of those that had come in with the soaked clothes. One of the fanatics that believed in killing themselves. Patients that were still giving out the chemicals that were now making Angus sick.

While Angus took another sip, now calmer than before, the door to the breakroom was opening yet again and Mario came in behind him, seeing just in time as Angus was throwing up yet again.

A worried look from Mario was all they could share because an alarm blared. Code Black.

The ER had been red two hours after their shift had started. Code Black this late in was a miracle in itself. Angus threw in a mint, following Mario outside but heading for another patient that they were directed to or called to.

The kid that the Leighton brothers were treating for an issue with his lung showed Angus that Mike wasn’t fine. The kid had gotten an x-ray before as Angus had seen the bruises along the ribcage but hadn’t traced anything serious through the skin. But the swelling was making it hard for Angus to feel bleedings or fractures. Therefore, the alarm sounded now and Mike was taking charge. It was obvious that the other man had tried to push himself too hard, too soon. He was still a great doctor but shaking hands, double vision and mixing up patient’s CT x-ray wasn’t Mike. It was someone differently and that wasn’t good. It was troublesome that the Guide was too stubborn to realize what was happening. That this time around, his ability to survive a trauma, the cool headedness of a Guide, was responsible for making Mike careless and overestimate himself.

Luckily enough, Mike came to the conclusion himself. While they were all wrapping up their shifts, handing patients over to the next doctors and nurses, Angus took a moment to see Mike sitting outside on the stairs to the main entrance. The quiet around him was telltale that something was going on in the Guide’s mind and that the older brother had noticed he wasn’t quite alone: “It was a mistake coming back so soon. I tried to push myself too hard.”

“It was a mistake anyone could have made,” Angus said quietly.

“But I caused the mistake because I’m sick, not because it was the usual mix up. I messed up and I’m a risk to others that way,” Mike looked at Angus, trying to make the other man understand: “I’ve changed. My brain is different. I may still be able to work something, but not this. Not here.”

Angus sighed but understood where his brother was coming from. Two close calls and messed up situations were two too many. Didn’t mean he wasn’t a good doctor and couldn’t work somewhere else.

“You’re taking my place now,” Mike said and passed him his stethoscope, the metaphor for his work being done in the Angel’s ER. Then he got up and left, leaving Angus to his thoughts and possible ways to help his big brother.

That was how Mario found him a while later: “You okay?”

“Fine,” he replied but was still miles ahead so Mario knew not to push or distract him again before Angus was ready to voice his thoughts: “Mike more or less quit.”

Mario kept silent for a moment: “Any reason why?”

“He kept spacing out and trembling. He said he is different now and still damaged,” Angus shrugged: “But I guess he’s right and I know with Ethan’s help he’ll find his way.”

“Mike survived falling from a helicopter. He’ll survive a different path in his career. I heard they’re looking for good doctors everywhere and there are places where he barely has to lay a hand on his patients until he’s ready.”

“I know that, he doesn’t.” 

“Right, c’mon, I’ll take you for a beer and dinner.” Mario stood from the stairs, patting him on the shoulder. Angus stood up but swayed and stumbled, Mario barely catching him in his arms before Angus’ knees gave way.

“Angus!?” Mario called out but Angus was waving at him good manneredly. It was Jesse that found them a second later, Mario trying to hold Angus up while not overbalancing.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jesse asked and helped Mario keeping Angus on his feet.

“I’m fine, Mama,” Angus replied.

“Bullshit. The Sentinel caught a sense of those chemicals and he was throwing up earlier. Probably a delayed reaction but it could be complicated,” Mario replied.

“Yeah, that is quite common among Sentinels,” Jesse agreed and helped Mario carry Angus up the stairs and back into the building: “The problem is that barely anyone knows about you and Angus and while it is not necessary to put you in the second line, sometimes this happens and we haven’t thought to check you over.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Mario replied: “I didn’t show any symptoms.”

“I’m right here, you know?” Angus complained but his eyes crossed there for a second so they knew he wasn’t all that good health-wise.

Finally reaching the ER again, Jesse indicated the nearest nurse to come with an empty bed and they quickly stripped the plastic cover off before Angus fell onto the bed, wincing at a bad angle but not complaining which made Mario frown: “I need a bloodwork and –“ Mario started but Jesse shook his head while three other people came running closer.

“You’re not a doctor now, Savetti. You’re his Guide and that is your main priority now,” Mama said sternly and Mario looked shocked for a moment before apparently remembering what was happening.

Two nurses around them were looking at them in shock at them being outed more or less and they knew that news travelled fast in the gossip mill that was the nurse station.

Jesse focused on those nurses: “One word and I know who talked, got that?” he waited for a nod before nodding himself: “We need the isolation room for privacy. Has it been cleared?”

“Yes,” a nurse replied and they were wheeling the bed away, Mario long since having reached for Angus’ hand to hold on tight: “A doctor is coming right away.”

It was Ethan that was walking up to them with a frown and worry on his face: “What happened to him?” he was the assigned doctor, his replacement for the dayshift hadn’t come in just yet.

“He’s been throwing up ever since the contamination,” Mario said simply: “I saw him coming out of the showers after that and getting into clean cloths. There should nothing be around for him to sill feel the affect. You’re fine and were right there alongside us.”

Ethan frowned and looked around, stretching out his senses in a manner to detect what might be wrong with Angus: “I can’t detect any trace. I doubt he’s still being exposed right now.”

“So what, I didn’t eat anything, I used the bathroom, I don’t have anything in common with earlier,” Angus replied from the bed. 

“Let’s get that bloodwork anyways. And we can’t use adrenaline. Your body is producing that more than average as you are a Sentinel,” Ethan said but it was stupid to voice that. It was simply a means like ABCDE as a guideline and they didn’t have that many Sentinels coming in. Therefore, they needed to use the system now to make sure not to miss anything.

“Airway,” Mario supplied but got a frown from Jesse for even trying to figure out what was wrong with his sentinel. He ignored it and talked to Ethan: “we could use a collunarium to rule the airway out.”

“Do that,” Ethan nodded to one nurse, ignoring Angus’ stricken and slightly disgusting face: “we need to, Angus. This could get worse quickly.”

“I know,” Angus replied: “B, breathing,” he continued: “I don’t feel anything but we all know the lung doesn’t have pain receptors.”

Ethan nodded and laid a hand on Angus’ ribcage, using his stethoscope to focus his hearing. Mario’s fingers twitched under Angus’ fingers but Jesse tut-tut-ed at them and Mario took a deep breath to relax and settle into the role as a Guide and boyfriend rather than a doctor. That he was out of his scrubs actually helped.

Pressing here and there, Ethan shook his head: “No B problem.”

“C,” Jesse supplied but fell silent as it wasn’t his place.

“Circulation could actually be a factor,” Mario said: “He threw up, which can be caused by the heart. He stumbled outside, also a circulation.”

“Or D,” Angus chimed in: “disability. Neurological factors could be the result as well.”

“First C, then D,” Mario reminded him: “Ethan?”

Ethan had already placed a hand above Angus’ heart and closed his eyes. He then moved his other hand to the various veins where you could detect a pulse: “Regular, no differences. The heartbeat sounds even and no different to when I first imprinted on him.”

“You imprinted on him?” Mario asked in surprise: “Really?”

“He’s my Guide’s brother. You’re my Guide in law. Of course, I’ll imprint on you,” Willis said dryly: “Even if I don’t like you much right now.”

Mario’s expression went to sour but Angus squeezed his hand: “D?”

“You just squeezed my hand, give me your other and I can find out,” Mario replied and did the first basic test. Besides the squeezing hand and getting both hands as equally strong, Angus’ pupils were slightly bigger than normal.

“His eyes,” Mario said: “Ethan?”

The doc pulled a penlight and shot Mario a look to be prepared should Angus zone on the brightness.

“Dial it down to normal, Angus,” the pupils stayed the same but Angus nodded and Ethan did his thing. Twice. Three times: “A slight delayed reaction but as we worked with a toxin, not unexpected.”

“We already know E, exposition. Nothing around anymore,” Jesse sighed: “What do we do now? How do we treat him?”

“The next problem would be that we haven’t had Angus react to any medicines so far so we have no idea what might on his physiology or in relation with the chemicals.” Ethan sighed.

“And we should wait for my results to come back first. It might just have been a dizzy-spell,” Angus replied unhappily but Mario knew from the mental state that Angus didn’t believe that himself.

“That’s not quite true, about the meds,” Mike said, coming in and looking at Angus in great worry: “The Adderall?”

“Right,” Angus said, Jesse looked puzzled while Mario continued: “The side effects were hyper awareness, sensory spikes and at one point hallucinations.”

“That rules out quite a lot of medicines that we could use then,” Ethan nodded: “Good.”

Mike sighed, looking at his younger brother in bed: “You know, I didn’t give you my stethoscope for you to land in a hospital bed.”

Angus shrugged but a second later it was alarms blaring behind them and Angus was somehow crashing.

“What the hell?” Mario asked and in that moment, he was very happy not to be Angus’ main physician because in no way was he able to concentrate on anything but Angus needing to survive.

They had added an oxy, that was currently in an eighty-nine percent and far away from ninety-nine.

“B problem after all?” Jesse asked in surprise.

“C,” Ethan said and suddenly seemed to lose his focus but then, a few seconds later was back: “They tested his blood. It’s the chemicals. They are in his body already and we need to find out how that happened.”

“We ruled out everything around him,” Mario sighed: “We all went into decon.”

A nurse suddenly turned around: “The air.”

They all froze, Mario heading for the oxygen tank in the corner, switching it to two bars and giving Angus the mask while another nurse went to another area and was switching on the ventilation. Mike was reaching for a plastic cover to throw on top of Angus to isolate him further.

“We need to get him into a clean room,” Ethan said and Mario was suddenly lost. He seemed to realize this was serious and Jesse sighed, patting him on the back: “Go get cleaned up and decontaminate your skin. By the time we’ve got him settled you can go in.”

Mario did that. Angus had stabilized back when the air had come in clean. Simply raising the stats wasn’t enough for now though. Angus was still in trouble with the chemicals.

When he entered the clean room, no one of the old team was around. They all had to be left aside in order for Angus to get a fair chance of clean. Mario walked to the airlock and took of the scrubs that he had worn to replace with new ones.

“I’m sorry, you’re not allowed in here,” the nurse said. They were three levels above the ER now and with a hospital as big as Angel’s, it was no wonder she didn’t know him.

“I’m Dr Savetti, his Guide,” he replied and went over to take Angus’ hand back in his hand and check the displays. Angus’ eyes were opening a second later: “Mario?”

“Hey there,” he replied with a smirk: “Care to make some space for me?”

Angus rolled his eyes and inched to the bars on the side so Mario could squeeze next to him. The nurse was giving him the evil eye but Mario ignored her: “How are you feeling?”

“Sickly,” the bigger man retorted.

“We think it was the air down there still affecting you. Over all you got the most exposure of us all, just delayed in time and we don’t know yet how to treat it but it looks good for now,” Mario said and was secretly glad he hadn’t been around for all the other things they had been doing to Angus.

“Why do I have Ringer solution? For carrier purpose or ph-value?” Angus asked.

“Both, actually,” Mario said: “I wasn’t here for a bit because I needed to shower.”

Angus nodded: “I’m sorry to scare you like that.”

“There literally was no better place to collapse than in front of a hospital,” Mario snickered: “But Mike thinks he’s at fault for causing your collapse. He has been around the other patients quite a lot and thinks the stethoscope was the trigger.”

Angus nodded and sighed: “What’s next?”

Ethan knocked on the wall before entering and answering: “Next, we got your results back and also tested which meds are compatible with your blood.”

He showed Mario and Angus the vial and Mario agreed while Ethan pulled the syringe up and added it to the Ringer: “That should diffuse the chemicals and within a day they should be through your system.”

“Thank you. Please make sure Mike doesn’t feel responsible,” Angus said and adjusted his blanket under his fingers.

“I will. And you don’t let any nurse shoo you away, Mario,” he left then, leaving Mario lying next to Angus on the hospital bed that luckily enough was big enough for them both.

Mario checked the displays with the stats again and found the oxygen level back to ninety-eight percent. The heartbeat was regular, if not a bit slow as a result to the whole treatment and medicines.

“Mario?” Angus asked quietly and the other man turned to focus on Angus instead of the machines surrounding them before Angus continued: “I’m sorry for scaring you. I should have known this was going to stick in the air.”

“You’ve been a Sentinel for, what, six months now and so far haven’t had any bad reactions to anything. You and I both know the risks of working in a hospital. I didn’t think of those risks either and I could have been affected just as much as you are. Hell, Mike and Ethan were down there as well but didn’t catch it simply because they weren’t the first to touch them. There was nothing else you could have done,” Mario said and wrapped his arm around Angus, snuggling up to the other man: “Now, relax, listen to my heartbeat and try to sleep. It was a long day.”

“Yes, Guide,” Angus replied automatically and was already dropping off to sleep. Mario sighed, relaxing against the other man but not quite falling into a deep sleep.

Angus was startling awake much later to a nurse coming in and switching his Ringer to a regular IV. She also gave him another medicine shot that Angus couldn’t catch because it was in her hand but he trusted the staff there. He had seen Jesse come by and realized that it was time for Mario to head down and start his shift but the Guide was sleeping soundlessly next to him, much to the annoyance of the nurse who was sending glares at Mario.

She probably hadn’t gotten the memo where it said they were bonded.

Angus was also needing to head to the bathroom. Like, right now. He estimated that four liters of IV had made it through his system and were now in dire need to leave his body. Carefully getting up was tricky, holding the IV bag under his chin, a routine that he had down by now, so he made it without incident.

“Hey, you’re up,” Mario greeted him when Angus returned to the room, smiling at his companion.

“Yeah, I’m up,” he yawned tiredly: “I probably should get downstairs and on shift.”

Angus nodded: “I’m probably not allowed to leave yet.”

That was as if Ethan was listening in – and really, that man was a Sentinel, so it was pretty likely that he was – and appeared in their clean room: “You can head downstairs with Mario and work but any sign, the slightest sign that you’re dizzy or shot of breath, you need to tell us right away.”

“My bloodwork is good then?” Angus asked and looked up, perking up altogether.

“Yes, we ran it early this morning and your stats are back to normal. It’s usually taking longer than this in a normal patient-“

“but I’m a Sentinel, yep- learned that in med school,” Angus agreed: “Thank you Ethan, really.”

“What are fellow Sentinels for?” the man grinned and looked up suddenly. Angus could hear a call out for the man across the speaker system downstairs and nodded him to go.

Mario was grinning at his Sentinel: “How do we get you downstairs without anyone seeing your pretty ass?”

Angus merely rolled his eyes at the Guide. 

When they arrived downstairs, new scrubs and all, Jesse was raising an eyebrow at them, Campbell was about to assign them to separate cases but Leanne Rorish, bless her heart, was vetoing that and assigning Mario and Angus together for the day. Only Noa and Heather were their tag along.

Coming into the ER, Angus carefully smelled the air and consciously looked for any trace of the chemicals that had caused his bad reactions. He shook his head negatively and Mario jumped into action. Their first case that came in was critical, requiring a shock room treatment with center stage. Leanne was ordering everyone to stand back but Angus, Mario, Noa and Heather. Various nurses were around, yes, but they were supposed to run the show and take over treatment.

Without discussing anything, Mario was checking the Airway and Breathing while Angus was already adjusting the Circulation, checking carefully for broken bones or a heat source under the skin that indicated internal bleeding. Then he continued with a neurological assessment physically while Mario had finished his first assessment and then went in mentally.

They didn’t notice that everyone around them had stopped what they were doing, unless it was really critical, and was staring at them. Noa and Heather were surprised, Jesse amused but impressed, Campbell had a slight indication of respect and Leanne was clapping her hands to startle everyone out of what they were doing: “People are dying! Get back to work!”

And with that, it was pretty obvious that they were in fact, a bonded and very compatible Sentinel and Guide Pair.

The end.


End file.
